WTI $73.69 -40c, Brent $77.75 -58c, Diff $4.06 -18c, NG $4.36 -5c

Oil price

The oil price is in the wrong place that’s for sure as if the rumours from pre-Opec yesterday are to be believed then there will be no agreement and the Saudis will defend market share. Stories that the Gulf states of Saudi, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE proposing no cut in output whistled around the market but not enough people believed them to really sell the commodity. If that proposal really happens then there is considerable downside from here not just in the oil price but for Opec itself, maybe this is the rebirth of the GCC?

In the US ahead of Thanksgiving the gasoline price fell again, normally I would have given you the number on Tuesday but have been saving it up! Retail gasoline is now averaging $2.82 per gallon, down 7.3 cents on last week and 47 cents down that at last Thanksgiving. Given that 41.3m Americans will travel more than 50 miles away from home in the next few days that is a genuinely decent saving and will be seen as a gift from not only Opec but the US producers who may not see it like that after the holiday.

The EIA stats showed that there was a stock build of 1.9m barrels of crude oil against consensus of a rise of 220/- from the analysts…

Hold onto your hats, if the meeting is short there is a press conference at 1500 hrs GMT.

And very little news from companies, maybe due to the fact that it was the Brindex dinner last night…

And finally…

Last night in the Champions League it was good to middling for the English clubs, Arsenal won easily enough and will progress but the Stealers conceded a late goal to draw 2-2 but should win at home against Basel to qualify for the next stage.

England duly lost the cricket but to be fair made a game of it with Ali getting a good century.

And on cricket the very sad news that Phil Hughes died last night was announced by the Australian cricket board this morning.